Madera, CA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Madera's primary NOAA station, MADERA.
The climate verdict for Madera
Dryness leads the climate profile for Madera, California, with 11.3 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 62°F. It scores 87/100 for climate comfort (excellent), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 87% of them.
- 62°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 87/100
- comfort score, above 87% of station-mapped location scores
- 11.3"
- precipitation, annual total
- 282 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Madera: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00045233 · Madera, CA 62°F mean · 11.3" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-ARID · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 62°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,557
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Atlanta Fulton…
- PRCP-ARID 11.3"
- SWING-MID 35°F
- COMF-TOP 87/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USC00045233
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Atlanta Fulton County, GA (+ 0 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every CA station list.
- Madera (this station) 62°F
- Hot Douglas Bisbee…, AZ 62°F
- Near Atlanta Fulton…, GA 62°F
- Near Camp Pendleton…, CA 62°F
- Near Chickasha, OK 62°F
Climate Living Index · Madera
Madera: 73/100 · grade B
Madera publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Madera, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 87/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Frost-free season | 282 days/year | 98/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.0 inches/year | 90/100 · A |
| Annual temperature balance | 62.3°F · 5.2° from 67.5°F | 84/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 91 calendar days | 79/100 · B |
| Precipitation balance | 11.3 in · 23.8 from 35 in | 16/100 · F |
Madera · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Madera's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 80.0°F
- Coldest month
- 45.3°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · balanced station
Where Madera sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Madera's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 19% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Madera sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 91%
- Madera's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 83%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Madera is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Madera compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Madera's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
87 Top 13% score exceeds 87% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Below this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Below this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Below this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). This entry sits in this band.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Madera's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 45 complete annual observations from 1932 to 2017, MADERA warmed at a fitted rate of 0.08°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Madera primary station fitted change +0.08 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55°F (13°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 46°F (8°C) | 2.1" | 0.0" | 7.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 61°F (16°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 2.1" | 0.0" | 3.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 67°F (20°C) | 44°F (6°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 1.8" | 0.0" | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| April | 73°F (23°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 1.0" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 0.9 |
| May | 82°F (28°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 67°F (20°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 6.4 |
| June | 90°F (32°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 0.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 18.3 |
| July | 96°F (36°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 80°F (27°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 28.4 |
| August | 95°F (35°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 79°F (26°C) | 0.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 26.9 |
| September | 89°F (32°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 0.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 16.7 |
| October | 78°F (26°C) | 49°F (10°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.9 |
| November | 64°F (18°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 1.0" | 0.0" | 2.9 | 0.0 |
| December | 55°F (13°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 1.9" | 0.0" | 11.2 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
The year in Madera runs from a mild 36°F around December 19 to 96°F at the peak near July 18, and the normal low never reaches freezing on any date in the record.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from June 15 through September 13, covering 91 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs April 3 to November 3.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
No freezing date
Not one calendar date in the 1991–2020 record carries a normal low at or below 32°F. The coldest normal low of the year is 36°F around December 19.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is February 10, when 26% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is July 21 at 0%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 39 wet dates a year.
The widest day
July 6 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 32°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Madera.
Where Madera Stands Nationally
Aridity defines the water calendar: about 11 inches in a normal year lands this among the driest tenth of ranked stations.
Heat is a defining feature of the normals calendar — the normal daily high reaches 90°F on roughly 91 days a year, more than four out of five ranked stations record.
Madera earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
7.4 days with precipitation
7.7 days with precipitation
6.1 days with precipitation
3.1 days with precipitation
1.6 days with precipitation
0.7 days with precipitation
0.1 days with precipitation
0.1 days with precipitation
0.5 days with precipitation
1.8 days with precipitation
3.5 days with precipitation
6.2 days with precipitation
Madera's wet season runs through the cold months
December, January and February carry 54% of the year's precipitation here, while June through August contribute 2%. That is the cool-season-dominant pattern of the West Coast and the higher inland West, where storm tracks swing south in winter and summer turns dry; the thermometer meanwhile shows a 34.7°F seasonal spread.
- Wettest month
- January, 2.1"
- Driest month
- August, 0.0"
- Wettest three months
- January, February, December (54% of the year)
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A cool-season label means the December-February share reaches 35%. Where snow falls, the monthly figures above report liquid-equivalent precipitation, so a wet winter month is not necessarily a rainy one.
How Madera's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 39 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 11.3" between them, or roughly 0.29 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Madera's record shows no measurable snowfall
This station measured snowfall across the 1991-2020 period and recorded none: the annual normal is 0.0 inches. That is a measured zero rather than missing data, which is a meaningful distinction here , most stations in the database simply do not report snow at all, and those pages say nothing about it.
A thirty-year normal of zero describes the typical year at this station. It is not a claim that snow has never fallen in the area.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
November 27
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
February 18
50% probability date
Growing Season
282 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,607
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,660
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside CA closest to Madera on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (62°F here).
- Dunn, NC 62°F · 0.0°F off
- Elizabeth City, NC 62°F · 0.0°F off
- Houston, MS 62°F · 0.0°F off
- Oneonta, AL 62°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (11.3" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Payette, ID 11.3" · 0.0" off
- Waterville, WA 11.3" · 0.0" off
- Northway, AK 11.3" · 0.0" off
- Ordway, CO 11.2" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Madera's limited precipitation lands
mixed demand · dry · mid swing
Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 11.3 inches annually, within PlainClimate's dry band. Recorded annual snowfall is negligible. The monthly distribution matters because the total alone does not reveal the timing.
July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Madera's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 34.7°F. The annual average is 62°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Heating and cooling both register in Madera's normal, at 2,607 and 1,660 degree days respectively. Neither total exceeds the other by more than two to one, so the record is better read as a mixed-demand calendar than as heating-led or cooling-led.
Madera has a long frost-free window of roughly 282 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.
Madera wettest normal
January
January concentrates the scarce annual total (11.3 inches).
Madera driest normal
July
July is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Madera's climate
How dry is Madera? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Madera get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Madera? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Madera's primary station: MADERA (USC00045233). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as an incorporated place (GEOID 0645022). Match rule for Madera: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Madera comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.